We are thinking about purchasing the Fast grind to give us the ability to produce a pair of lenses as someone waits. My question is, is it really worth the cost for the convenience? I know that there is a software maintenance cost and that you have to purchase the lenses through them. Anyone buy one with the same intentions and end up having the machine just sit? Any information would be appreciated, thanks.
Pez:D
Do a break-even analysis. If you don't know how to do a break-even analysis have your accountant do this for you. Just remember to double or even triple the costs particularly if you have never used one of these systems before. Despite what they say the learning curve is pretty steep and just about the time you get one of your cone heads trained he quits and goes to Starbucks for the big money. Most of these systems sit unused or are used to make ash trays. But, in short, unless you will be doing a few hundred pairs a month forget about it.
Just how many jobs do you lose because you cant deliver a pair of glasses in 15 minutes, anyway?
Thank you for the input. I know that it would cost us rather than make us money BUT it would give us the advantage over the other Opticals in the area being able to make a pair while you wait. And I'd be the cone head using itso I'm not worried about the learning curve. ;)
Pez:D
You don't need an accountant to determine your savings. We (FastGrind) can do a spread sheet for you. I suggest you send a month's worth of your lab invoices and we will determine which jobs you can do on the FastGrind and what your savings would be.Originally Posted by pezfaerie
Thank you for the input. I know that it would cost us rather than make us money BUT it would give us the advantage over the other Opticals in the area being able to make a pair while you wait. And I'd be the cone head using it
Generally speaking just doing one progressive a day will pay the lease and put a extra couple hundred dollars in your pocket, depending on what you are paying from your lab. Also keep in mind you may keep the patient in house who might walk with the Rx to get faster service. Just one per month will add additional savings. Call us at 1-800-543-7376 and we'll be happy to discuss details. Training is done by a DVD so it's easy for anyone to learn and we always provide free phone support. No need to worry about maintenance as we offer a lifetime warranty on parts if ever needed.
Last edited by Don Gilman; 05-01-2015 at 08:39 AM.
You don't need an accountant to determine your savings. We (FastGrind) can do a spread sheet for you. I suggest you send a month's worth of your lab invoices and we will determine which jobs you can do on the FastGrind and what your savings would be.Thank you for the input. I know that it would cost us rather than make us money BUT it would give us the advantage over the other Opticals in the area being able to make a pair while you wait. And I'd be the cone head using it
Generally speaking just doing one progressive a day will pay the lease and put a extra couple hundred dollars in your pocket, depending on what you are paying from your lab. Also keep in mind you may keep the patient in house who might walk with the Rx to get faster service. Just one per month will add additional savings. Call us at 1-800-543-7376 and we'll be happy to discuss details. Training is easy with the DVD and no need to worry about maintenance as we offer a lifetime warranty on any part if needed.
I am very familiar with the system and it is extremely easy to operate. We have had turn over and that has not been a problem. We have saved my Rx's by being able to give same day service. One new development is we are able to do insurance work on the system (Eyemed). I wouldn't hesitate to buy it.
I know the US Army has a mobile unit that is a troop transport with a Fast Grind and a Horizon II pattern edger. Pretty cool set up, I made glasses for the guy who over saw the project. Its an Optical Tank, making glasses right behind the front lines.
Confucius say near sighted soldier who break glasses can't shoot straight. New glasses "In about an hour" now straight shooter.
We looked into the system for our office as well and decided against it. The major drawback was not being able to process poly, 1.67 or trivex. We also didn't like being limited to purchasing lenses only pre blocked from fastgrind.
I suggest doing a lab comparison. That way we can eliminate any materials that we can't currently process on the FastGrind and give you a true picture of the potential savings. Simply send us one months of your actual lab orders(invoices) for the comparison. They will be promptly returned to you. Our machine can actually process any lens material such as Trivex and Poly. The limitation is that these materials require a back side coating after surfacing such as Ultra Optics back side coater. Purchasing a coater would increase the materials you could process on the FastGrind. We are currently working on a relatively inexpensive back side spin coater.
I'm waiting for you at Super Optical to release the backside coater so I can purchase your system. When do you forsee releasing it.
That plus you're stuck with their proprietary lenses would make it a show stopper for me. Similar to in office molding of lenses, it's a nice theoretical option which has limited place in the business, and would probably end up collecting dust in some corner of the room. If I ever add a surfacer to my lab it will have to process at least trivex and hivex, and accommodate any brand of lenses...
Good timing. We have our first unit arriving next week. We will do testing here and then send it out to one of our customers for further testing. I hope all this to be completed with minimal glitches. When everything is good we will start manufacturing. We plan on showing it at VEE in March. Delivery by summer???I'm waiting for you at Super Optical to release the backside coater so I can purchase your system. When do you forsee releasing it.
Dr Stacy,
We used to carry a wide variety of lenses by the leading manufactures such as Varilux, Kodak, Image. Know what happened! After our customers tried and used our house brand lenses they found there was no need to pay double or triple for the "name brands" and it wasn't just our customers it was there customers (patients ) that were pleased.
If the 3 O's didn't like our lenses they would't buy our machine. We always encourage potential customers to dispense our lenses before buying the machine. We'll make as many as you want to try for free.
Name brand is the least important factor in all progressive lenses! If you as a retailer don't use lenses designed for your practice you are missing the boat. My luxury model does not work at all with 1.56 but in many offices that product is fantastic. I had friends who made them years ago at Pearle Franchise with great success.
The concept is great and will only get better.
With Fast Grind do you have total control over lens thickness according to the trace or finished lens size? How much prescribed prism can be induced? Are the blanks available in Transitions? I have a friend that is very interested.
Fast Grind will give you complete control over thickness. The flexiblity of the system is why it has outlasted more than 7 casting systems. You can not induce prism at your practice but we can provide you blanks with the specified prism. We do offer Transition VII lenses and just introduced a new Photochromic, 'Conversion' that has some additional benefits. Additionally, Fast Grind is approved by EyeMed as an 'in-house' lab.
Can I use tools I already have for fast grind?
Do you have an idea as to when these option may be available?
This depends on how the tools were cut such as index, pad compensation etc. We cut our tools to 1.498 index and any other index lens that is used will be computed in our software. We do not recommend using plastic laps.
We have half the problem solved. The machine to do the back side coating is working well. We still have issues in the polish cycle getting 100% scratch free lenses with these soft materials. We are working with our pad and polish vendor. We are also looking at some of the MR resins for lenses that have many of the same qualities as poly and Trivex.
Are the fastgrind laps cut in 8th or 10th increments? Are the fastgrind machines clamps that hold the bottom of the lap standard size?
8th on the base 0.25 on cross (Cyl)......standard back side size
Any news on the back coater machine, do we really need to apply a hard coat on the back side.
On hold for now. The coater works well but we never solved the polish issue. It also required very clean air and deionized
water which added to the cost.
Back side coating is not really necessary using our Visionair lenses. I have worn my lenses daily for almost 2 years and still scratch free. We also offer a scratch warranty at an additional modest cost but so for no one has used it, probably not a problem so why spend extra?
We have a customer in Guatemala. If you e-mail be I can share his name.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks